Today’s modern media companies juggle a variety of revenue streams, from traditional linear advertising to digital to growth channels like CTV. Group M’s global advertising forecast predicts that CTV will increase 13.2% in 2023 compared to a 1.2% decrease for linear. That change will create seismic shifts in how media companies assemble proposals, deliver campaigns and maximize yield.
The way advertising spend evolves across channels also adds to the already complex makeup of the processes and technologies that drive revenue management. Media companies are faced with the daunting task of meeting advertiser demand for highly targeted, custom ad campaigns across channels that can also deliver measurable results. Over time, many media companies have built up a network of different technologies and processes that are stitched together, often with manual work and spreadsheets.
These systems are often stuck in silos, focused on the linear business or the digital business, without integrations to bring information together. Without a unified system, media companies are often slower to create proposals for advertisers and have difficulty delivering campaigns optimally, leaving revenue on the table.
The good news is that there are a number of new approaches that solve these issues.
The Components of a Modern Media Enterprise
The modern media company requires modern solutions that will drive unified ad sales, delivery and reporting. Today’s advertiser wants to buy campaigns at scale across channels, and they want to reach highly specific audiences on targeted content. The campaigns of today are incredibly finely crafted, which puts pressure on media companies to deliver successfully. New solutions need capabilities that can meet and exceed advertiser expectations and help media companies make strategic decisions to maximize revenue.
Modern revenue management includes:
- Unified product catalogue - Advertisers want to buy across channels, and don’t have patience to wait for media companies to assemble product information from disconnected systems. A unified product catalogue brings all relevant product information for each channel into a single database that makes it easy for sellers and their teams to see pricing and available inventory. A unified catalogue makes it easy to create a proposal that meets advertiser RFP demands and maximizes revenue opportunities for the media company.
- Systems integration - Media companies gain significant efficiency when they are able to seamlessly move an IO into the delivery phase and manage operations centrally. Modern ad operations require interconnected systems across linear, digital, CTV and more so that it is easy to activate and optimize campaigns.
- Real time reporting - Centralized, streamlined reporting is the only way that media companies can achieve accurate real-time reporting, something that has been elusive. End-of-campaign reporting has long been difficult for media teams, and the complexity of new channels, targeting and currencies has made it even worse. Reporting has been so complicated, that accurate, comprehensive real-time reporting mid-campaign is almost impossible, creating an extremely heavy lift for media teams who want to not only provide advertisers with insights, but also optimize delivery.
Solutions for Modern Media Revenue Management
There is good news in the face of growing complexity. New solutions based on cloud technology and modular design are helping media enterprises achieve their goals for modern revenue management without requiring a total overhaul of their systems.
Cloud-native technology allows a media company to connect their current linear, digital, CTV and other tech into a centralized system that can unify information and seamlessly interface to dramatically improve visibility and workflow. Cloud can be added without media companies having to rip out their current systems, which makes it much easier to adopt.
For example, cloud-based order management can create a unified product catalogue that pulls from each legacy system, and interface with each system to constantly keep information updated, dramatically increasing visibility and reducing manual work. Cloud is scalable, which means it can grow with media companies as their business evolves. It can manage massive amounts of data and easily accommodate the complexities of today’s and tomorrow’s media landscape.
What’s more, modern solutions are built to be flexible, with a modular design that allows media companies to customize the solution to their needs. A modular approach allows companies to add new channels as they need to, creating a more fluid on-ramp to a true converged revenue management approach.
Modern systems are built to embrace the change and complexity that comes with today’s media advertising market. Rather than throw out the old, these systems are meant to interface and unify data, increasing visibility, speed and ultimately, ROI.
Media companies must meet advertiser demands, and the tools are available to do so while also gaining yield and revenue management controls. With modular cloud technology, media companies improve business outcomes today and pave the way for whatever new elements emerge in the future.
